The Israeli government on Thursday approved the parameters of a deal on two strategic islands in the Red Sea that would pave the way for Saudi Arabia to take steps towards normalizing relations with Israel.

Why it matters: The deal the US has been quietly negotiating for months would be a significant foreign policy achievement for the Biden administration in the Middle East.

• The deal will also allow for a separate deal with Saudi Arabia that will allow Israeli airlines to use its airspace for eastbound flights to India and China, as well as allow direct charter flights from Israel to Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims who wish to visit the holy cities. . Mecca and Medina, as previously mentioned Axios.
• Israeli officials said the measures are expected to be announced during President Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia later this week.

News Direction: Israeli officials said Israel on Thursday gave the green light to the Red Sea islands deal with the United States. Israeli officials said the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office had approved the parameters of the deal on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry.

• The agreement includes the transfer of multilateral surveillance forces currently in Tiran and Sanafir to new locations in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as well as the installation of cameras to monitor activity on the two islands and the Strait of Tiran, according to officials.
• As part of the deal, Saudi Arabia will pledge to the United States to abide by the obligations of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, in particular the maintenance of freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran. for Israeli ships, as Axios previously reported. mentioned.
• The United States will give Israel security guarantees on freedom of navigation based on Saudi commitments.

What they’re saying: President Biden said Thursday during a press conference with Israeli acting Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem that he was “optimistic” about possible steps to normalize Saudi relations with Israel.

• The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.

Tiran and Sanafir Islands

Graphic: Axios Visuals

Catching up fast: Despite popular protests in Egypt, the Egyptian parliament in June 2017 and the country’s supreme court in March 2018 approved a deal to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Saudi Arabia.

• But the deal required Israel’s approval because of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which required Tiran and Sanafir to be a demilitarized zone and have a US-led multinational observer force.
• Israel has agreed in principle to move the islands back to Saudi Arabia, pending an agreement between Cairo and Riyadh on the operation of multinational forces and freedom of navigation in the strait.
• But the deal was never finalized, mainly due to Saudi Arabia’s desire for international observers to leave the islands. This created the need for a new arrangement that would include Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
• The Biden administration has been mediating quietly between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt for months. But since Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations and cannot directly sign formal bilateral agreements, the countries involved had to use innovative legal and diplomatic solutions to try to reach an agreement indirectly.